Question about surrendering/keeping a vehicle

[onawaiowa]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum but love the enormous amount of info. Here is my question/situation: BK is complete on 8/25/08. Does it matter if you surrender a vehicle before or after your completion of BK? I have a 2005 Chevy Trailblazer that I am upside down about $6,000 on, I did not reaffirm, and am not behind on the payments. Will surrendering it after BK is complete put more of a bad mark on my credit history than it would if I did it before? Is it true that since I didn't reaffirm that I can surrender the vehicle at any time without the bank coming back at me. Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

[lrprn]

BK is complete on 8/25/08. Does it matter if you surrender a vehicle before or after your completion of BK?

Did you declare your intent to surrender the car when you filed? If you didn't, then you need to get your lawyer involved to make it known you wish to surrender the car now.

If you surrender the car while your bk is active, then the credit agencies see the surrender and bk as one event. If you wait to surrender the car after your bk is closed, then they may see the surrender and bankruptcy as two separate events which has a greater impact on your credit scores.

Is it true that since I didn't reaffirm that I can surrender the vehicle at any time without the bank coming back at me.

If you did not reaffirm the car loan, then if you surrender the car, you do *not* owe whatever is left on your loan after the car is sold at auction.